The surprise announcement by Baha Mar that it will not open any of its hotels on March 27 has highlighted the difficulties that have been plaguing the $3.5 billion mega development since ground broke in 2011, and raises questions about how the resort will handle disappointed guests.In the immediate instance, the resort's spokespersons have addressed the question of disappointed prospective guests. A flood of disgruntled people took to social media to vent their frustrations on the resort's Facebook page over the last days.
"We are making every effort to reach every single guest that has been inconvenienced by our delay. We are offering a re-booking package that satisfies their needs for this trip, as well as ensures that they will return to Baha Mar in the future to enjoy our resort as a VIP," Robert Sands said.
Sands is senior vice president, Government and External Affairs at the resort, and he gave no indication of the likely cost of placating those inconvenient guests. Of note, Sands is often quite verbose. His most recent statements have been terse, and verbatim facsimiles of comment from other Baha Mar spokespeople. This suggests the resort is in crisis mode.
Meanwhile, the Baha Mar website's earliest available date is May 7 for the Baha Mar Resort and Casino, the Rosewood and the Grand Hyatt. The SLS Lux is not available for booking until May 8. When the resort announced its delay, the reason given was that the contractor's work was not considered up to standard. Given that China Construction America is only the master contractor, and that there are dozens of smaller contractors involved in the work, it is not clear to whom Baha Mar was referring.
Baha Mar has been silent on the cost of this delay, and the others. An economic impact analysis conducted by the project's organizers revealed that Baha Mar's forecasted impact is expected to account for 12.8 percent of The Bahamas' annual gross domestic product in its first full year of operation. That report also noted that over 20 years of operations, Baha Mar is expected to generate $25.3 billion in international visitor spending; and each year, more than $50 million is expected to be spent off site by Baha Mar guests, which will benefit other Bahamian businesses. The government has hooked its economic recovery plan to a great degree to the Baha Mar project. And the international community agrees with the impact the resort will have.
Moody's said in December 2014 that higher growth would be driven in part by the completion of Baha Mar, which was then expected to open in Q2 2015. Then in January 2015, Moody's said that in combination with continued work in tourism-related projects, including the Baha Mar resort, we think the economy expanded by about 1.5 percent in 2014.
"For 2015, with the opening of Baha Mar in late Q1 and stronger economic activity in the US, the tourism sector should continue to perform better this year," the analysts said.
Standard and Poor's in December 2014 said it expected GDP to expand about 1.1 percent in 2014 and pick up more in 2015 and 2016 as the US economy grows more quickly and as the Baha Mar resort is scheduled to open in late spring 2015. We forecast growth of 2.5 percent in 2015, though a strong opening at Baha Mar could provide a larger boost to growth."
It remains to be seen what effect if any the delay will have on these prognostications.
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